I believe the Indian nurse is the most preferred resource across the globe today. They have potential to be very enterprising. Many of them aspire to go to different parts of the world and that is why they join nursing.

Nurses are very hard working, keen learners and they have a great adaptation mechanism which makes them seek greener pastures. They have proven themselves in the most complex healthcare environment. Today’s nurse is oriented to the best protocols in the world because of the joint commission, NABH standards and a curriculum which matches the rest of the world. This is why our nurses are preferred from across the continent.

What are your views on Indian nurses exported to foreign lands?

Today every nurse who has worked in the best of organisations be it the corporate environment or the government setup is been picked up with less than two years.

We have more than 2.5 million nurses throughout the country. India is the largest exporter of nurses and exports about 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh a year.

I think this is good for the economy. Aspirations to work in a foreign land must not be curtailed. But at the same time we must produce enough nurses and create an environment in the country which will enable them to be on board and be more productive while they are here.

Many of the nurses who go abroad come back to the best of hospitals. So they bring in more value and help the profession to grow. So I think it has to be a win-win situation where both parties benefits, the nation and the profession benefits at large.

How can we encourage the nurses of our country?

We can encourage the nurses to be at their best by giving them an opportunity to learn, to have an academic rigour, clinical acumen backed up with good practise while they are in the hospitals, supported by technology and good governance. These would enable the nurses to be productive.

We need to calibrate the pace; we need to quantum leap and do a lot for this profession to be lucrative. Not many in the country are joining nursing as a profession because it is hard, very demanding and it is not as lucrative as many other professions. The entry levels are the same and the career progression is not as attractive as it should be. If we fix these issues we can probably see a better scheme of things our nurses.

How has the nursing profession evolved over these years?

The last 10 years have been a good amount of focussing work on the nursing resources. JCI or NABH standards are very nursing heavy. Today nurses are partnering not only to clinical outcomes but they are also intergraded to the reputation and reimbursement of the organisation. So a lot of good things have happened towards nursing like talent management, career progression, investment, training and reward recognition. So the change is there but it is not as big as it should be and that is why the visibility is much less.

What are the challenges that you see in the nursing profession in India?

The challenges that we face is because a lot of nurses leave the country and we are always left with a deficit. We are not able to have that many trained nurses in the country. If nurses stay they can sub-specialise, super specialise but we don’t see that happening.Also we have a lot of faculty crunch in the schools and colleges of nursing.

The other challenge is that the glitz and glamour of the profession is missing. So the lucrative fact of being a nurse is somewhere missing in the healthcare setup which needs a quick address.

Tell us about the vision and best practises of Apollo?

Apollo started with a very different vision. The Apollo logo is a nurse and that stands testimony to the fact that our chairman Prathap C. Reddy has envisioned that the importance of nurse cannot be underplayed. At Apollo the nurses are empowered and are part of the enterprise in itself. We have come a long way. We brought JCI to India and we have been partners in bringing in NABH. We see alot of things are progressing and we are very optimistic about the future.

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